HDV showdown: Canon HV10 vs. Sony HC3

Sony's been doing this for a while, but Canon just finally jumped into the consumer HD game with their new HV10 HDV cam. To see how they well they've managed, David Pogue over at the New York Times got ahold of the camera and pitted it against Sony's latest: the HDR-HC3. He doesn't go so far as to name a victor, but the Canon does come out looking pretty good. With the recent bouts of HD-induced nausea consumers have been experiencing lately, Canon stuffed in an extra external auto-focusing sensor for near instant focus with quick camera moves. They also threw in some optical image stabilisation, and Pogue found both features quite effective. The HV10 also includes a built-in light, and better light sensitivity than Sony's HC3, but Sony does manage an accessory shoe, night shot mode and a quite notable HDMI port that are all lacking on the Canon. Both cameras suffer from a weak wide-angle view, and neither include microphone jacks or much else for the prosumer set, but with the HV10's list price of $1,300, and the $1,500 list-priced HC3 currently hitting $1,200 online, both cameras are quite the bargain for a tape-based HDV cam.